Switch-signal



L CRAIGMYLE.

SWITCH SIGNAL. -APPucmoN FILED FEB; H, aars.

1 ,303 ,1 70, Patented May 6, 1919,

J. CRA|GMYLE.

swngH SIGNAL. APPucATmN min realli. ma.

Patented May 6, 19191 2 sHEETs-sHEEr 2.

' www J OI-IN GBAIGMYLE, 0F DAN VILLE, ILLINOIS.

SWITCH-SIGNAL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 6, 1919.

Application filed February 11, 1919. Serial No. 276,354.

T0 all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN GRArGMrLE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Danville, in the county of Vermilion and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Switch-Signals, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to railway signaling, and more especially to signals adapted to be mounted on switches; and the p rlmary object of the same is to produce a signal of this kind for use in the daytime or the nighttimeand which will clearly indicate at a distance whenever the switch has been left part way open instead of .being entirely closed yto establish the continuity of the rails.

The invention. consists broadly in making the danger or red panels rentrant instead of flat and dispo-sing them quartering to the clear signals or panels, so ythat when the signal head is turned a little out of its strictly clear position, some of the danger panel 4is exposed.

The invention consists specifically in the application of this idea to both day and night signals, as set forth in the following specification and claims and as shown in the drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is an elevation of the oscillating shaft of a switch, with both day and night signals mounted thereon, and

Figs. 2 and 3 are cross sections on the lines 2-2 and 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged-vertical section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1. i

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the day signal partly turned aside for purposes of illustration.

Itis well known that numerous wrecks' 'structure whose sectional configuration is perhaps best seen in Fig. 2. It includes a sleeve 1 mounted upon the shaft or staff S and connected there vby pins or keys 2, radial elements 3 projecting from diametrically opposite sides of said sleeve, flat panels 4 secured across the extremities of said elements and painted white on their outer faces which y are oppositely disposed as shown, and two other rentrant panels 5 painted red on their outer faces and connected at their outer edges with the white panels at the corners 6, -whileytheir angular centers are connected with the sleeve 1 in any appropriate manner. These red panels w-hich I call rentrantl are to be distinguished from the ywhite panels which are flat( The general configuration of the day signal is square, but by` making each red panel of leaves, .it gives it considerable area additional to that of either white panel 4, and by making it rentrant an advantage is brought out which is set forth below. I will here say that it is not absolutely necessary that the two leaves of the panel be flat or the en'tire contour of the day signal be square.

The night signal is a lantern broadly in dicated by the letter L, and the details of the lantern itself are not essential. In its base plate is a socket 11 fitting removably over the squared upper end 10 of the shaft S so that the lantern may be applied or removed but will rotate with the staff. The contour of the lamp box is best seen in Fig. 8x At opposite sides it carries two green lenses 14 corresponding with the white panels of the day signal, and at the other two opposite sides quartering to these lenses it carries two rentrant red panels 15 corresponding with the rentrant panels 5 of the day signal. `I call the red glass 15 reentrant because it is not flat. In Fig. 3,

each glass is shown as dished or curved, rather than made in two flat leaves like the rentrant panel 15 in the view above it. I wish it clearly understood that by the word rentrant I mean to include in either instance a panel which is not fiat, but whose center stands farther inward than its edges. The lamp box surrounding and supporting the glasses'may be of any appropriate construction, but in Fig. 4 I have shown at 16 how one lens 14 may have a handle by means of which it may be raised so that access is gained to the lamp burner for manipulating the wick, etc. The glasses are shown as corrugated on their inner surfaces and the lenses 14 as ribbed on their inner surfaces, but these details are not essential to the present invention. By preference I provide bafiie plates 17 carried by the lamp box and rising above its top 18 so that the upper portion 19 of the lamp body is not visible when looking at either lens 14 direct. rIhe green lens 14 standsl directly above the white panel 4 of the day signal, and of course both indicate a clear track. The red glass 15 stands above the rentrant red panel 5, and of course both indicate danger, as when a switch is open. The purpose of the present invention is to indicate when the switch' is part way open, or in other words when it has not been completely closed. The maimer in which this is accomplished is perhaps best seen in Fig. 5. That is to say, when the'switch is not completely closed the staff S will not have been turned to a position where it will carry the white panels 4 into planes directly at right angles to the length of the track. A person approaching from above or from below the view in Fig. .2 or 3 would seein the former case only a white panel and in the latter case only a green lens, but a person approaching a signal which stood as shown in Fig. 5 would see not only the white panel 4 in the foreground but a considerable portion of one leaf of the red panel 5 which is now exposed beyond the edgev of the panel 4. Moreover, the surface painted red is substantially transverse to the line of vision because the panel 5 is rentrant. The saine is true of the inwardly curved red glass 15, although if the glass is corrugated as shown, it may not be necessary to give as much curvature as the reentrant panel 5. Yet at night when the switch is not quite closed, some portion of the 'red glass will be visible in addition to the green light. Of course, when the switch is turned to an open position the shaft S will turn both the day and night signals so that only the red will show, and the green light at 'night7 will be entirely hidden at that time. Therefore, I prefer that the red panels of either signal shall be rentrant rather than flat like the white panels 4. By

day, the entire lantern will be lifted off the i squared upper end of the shaft S to be replaced again in the evening.

The foregoing description and drawings have reference to what may be considered the preferred or approved form of my invention. It is to be understood that I may make suchchanges in construction and arrangement and combination of parts, materials, dimensions, et cetera, as may prove expedient and fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A railway signal mounted on a rotary staff and including a flat white or safety panel and a rentrant red or danger panel.

2. A railway signal mounted on a rotary staff and substantially rectangular in contour, its two opposite sides being flat and white to designate safety and its remaining two sides being rentrant and red to designate danger, for the purpose set forth.

3. 'A railway signal mounted on an upright rotary shaft and including two directly opposite dished panels colored t0 inindicate danger, and two other panels at points quartering to the first two and colored to indicate safety.

4. A railway switch signal mounted on the upper end of a switch shaft which is given a quarter revolution in moving the switch, said signal comprising a structure of substantially rectangular configuration whereof two diametrically opposite panels are colored to indicate safety and appropriately disposed with reference to the position of said staff, and the other two diametrically opposite panels at right angles to the first two are colored to indicate danger and are dished between their edges, for the purpose set forth.

5. A railway switch signal mounted on the upper end of a switch shaft which is given a quarter revolution in moving the switch, said signal comprising a structure of substantially rectangular configura-tion whereof two diametrically opposite panels are colored to indicate safety and appropriately disposed with reference to the position of said shaft, and the other two diametrically opposite panels at right angles to the first two are colored to indicate danger and are dished between their edges, for the purpose set forth.

6. A railway switch signal mounted on the upper end of a switch sha-ft which is given a quarter revolution in moving the switch, said signal comprising a. structure of substantially rectangular configuration whereof two diametrically opposite panels are colored to indicate safety and appropriately disposed with reference to the position of said shaft, and the other two diametrically opposite panels at right angles to the first two are colored to indicate danger and are each composed of two flat leaves forming a reentrant angle and connected at their outer edges with the edges of the first named panels and at their inner edges with said staff.

7. In a railway signal, the combination with an upright switch shaft having a squared upper extremity, and a day signal including a sleeve mounted on said shaft below such extremity, and two white and two red panels respectively at right angles to each other; of a night signal consisting of a lantern having a socket in its bottom plate removably mounted on said squared extremity and two opposite green lenses and two diametrieally opposite red glasses, the red glasses standing above the danger panels of the day signal, and both glasses and panels being rentrant, for the purpose set forth.

8. In a railway signal, the combination with an upright switch shaft having a squared upper extremity, and a day including a sleeve mounted on said stalpbelow such extremity, and two white and two red panels respectively at right angles to each other; of a night signal consisting of signal' a lantern having a socket in its bottom plate removably mounted on said squared eX- tremity and two opposite green lenses and two diametrically opposite red glasses, the red glasses standing above the red panels of the day signal and being rentrant and corrugated, and the red panels of the day signal being each made in two leaves connested at their outer edges with the white panels and at their inner edges with each other.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my in presence 0f two witnesses.

JOHN CRAIGMYLE.

signature Vitnesses:

F. L. CHIPMAN, CORNELIUS FUnMAN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Iatents, Washington, D. C. 

